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and are administered. For it is written concerning the one who founded them that he was Building cities with blood and preparing cities with iniquities. For their material is iniquities and the shedding of the blood of those who are scandalized. The Savior, having appeared, will destroy these, destroying the enemy who wishes to rule tyrannically over the cities he thought he possessed. Those who behold this heroic deed with a divine eye, praising the champion, speak as if with one voice, uttering a voice of thanksgiving, beginning thus: O Lord my God, I will glorify you, I will hymn your name, because you have done wonderful things, an ancient, true counsel; so be it, Lord, because you have made cities into a mound, a city of the impious will not be built forever. Consider whether it signifies the fall from which Jerusalem could not be raised, since the Savior was crucified in it, its citizens henceforth being impious because of the deicide. Ps 9,7b The phrase "With a sound" is instead of "Not with quietness"; the victors' achievement was made with a shout. 55 Ps 9,8b.9 The preceding words urge one to depart from evil and impiety, and to approach virtue and piety. For what person of understanding who believes what has been said would not be afraid, lest he fall under the one who judges in righteousness and in uprightness on account of blameworthy actions and an impious mind? For when he judges in this way, the judgment will be inescapable. 56 Ps 9,10 Indicative of this is what was said in the person of God: In an acceptable time I have heard you, and that in the one hundred and first psalm which goes thus: You, arising, will have mercy on Zion, for it is time to have mercy on her, for the time has come. 57 Ps 9,11 Having advanced beyond all human confidence (for they have a secure and perfect knowledge of your name), they hope in none of those things, but they seek God who desire all things to be given to them by him, which they are not able to have from themselves, wherefore they are not abandoned by him. It is fitting to hear this saying piously and prudently. For if someone should think that the one who prospers in the things of this life is not abandoned by God, he is mistaken. For many impious people live thus. Otherwise it would be time to say that Abel was abandoned (for he was killed), and also the prophets and apostles; for they were continually afflicted, and in the end most of them were killed by men. With this distinction having been made, we say that the one who is sustained by God until his last breath is not abandoned, even if he should suffer ten thousand things from enemies. For this is truly what it means not to be abandoned by the Lord. The manner in which one ought to seek God is presented from what is written in Wisdom thus: Think of the Lord in goodness, and in simplicity of heart seek him, because he is found by those who do not test him, and he reveals himself to those who do not distrust him. 58 Ps 9,12-13 Those who have learned to sing psalms with spirit and mind are commanded to speak a hymn, and these sing psalms with a pious understanding and by the conception of the spirit; for they are commanded to sing and make melody in the heart. Those who thus sing psalms to the Lord who dwells in Zion, according to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, also receive another command from him, to declare his works among the nations. And these are all the wonderful things he did when he appeared, both intelligible and perceptible. The second command might be said especially to the apostles who were sent to make disciples of all the nations. And that in requiring their blood, he remembered those who were killed by the fiery darts of the evil one. To these things, it says, is added, He has not forgotten the cry of the poor, about which someone might raise a difficulty, saying: how did the poor from the nations, being such, cry out to God, although they were being destroyed by the prevailing polytheistic deceit and by the invisible enemies who work through it? To which it must be said that they raise the cry in reality, just as the blood of Abel cries out to God and the withheld wages of the laborers; For behold, it says, the wages of those who mowed your fields, which you kept back, cries out; for the cry of the withheld wages is in its not being with

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καὶ διοικούμεναι. γέγραπται γὰρ περὶ τοῦ ἱδρυσαμένου αὐτὰς ὡς ειη Οἰκοδομῶν πόλεις ἐν αιμασιν καὶ ἑτοιμάζων πόλεις ἐν ἀδικίαις. ἡ γὰρ υλη αὐτῶν ἀδικήματα καὶ εκχυσις αἱμάτων τῶν σκανδαλιζομένων ἐστίν. ταύτας καθελεῖ ἐπιδημήσας ὁ σωτήρ, καθελῶν τὸν ἐχθρὸν τυραννικῶς κρατεῖν θέλοντα ων ῳετο ἐσχηκέναι πόλεων. οἱ ταύτην τὴν ἀνδραγαθίαν ομματι θείῳ θεασάμενοι εὐφημοῦντες τὸν ἀριστέα φασὶν ὡς ἐκ μιᾶς φωνῆς τὴν χαριστήριον προφέροντες φωνήν, ἀρχόμενοι ωδε· Κύριε ὁ θεός μου, δοξάσω σε, ὑμνήσω τὸ ονομά σου, οτι ἐποίησας θαυμαστὰ πράγματα, βουλὴν ἀρχαίαν ἀληθινήν· γένοιτο, κύριε, οτι εθηκας πόλεις εἰς χῶμα, πόλις τῶν ἀσεβῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα οὐ μὴ οἰκοδομηθῇ. ἐπίστησον εἰ σημαίνει τὸ ἀνέγερτον πτῶμα τῆς ̔Ιερουσαλὴμ, τοῦ σωτῆρος ἐν αὐτῇ σταυρωθέντος, τῶν πολιτῶν αὐτῆς οντων λοιπὸν ἀσεβῶν διὰ τὴν κυριοκτονίαν. Ps 9,7b Τὸ Μετ' ηχους ἀντὶ τοῦ Οὐ σὺν ἠρεμίᾳ ἀλαλαγμοῦ νικησάντων τὸ κατόρθωμα ὑπῆρκται. 55 Ps 9,8b.9 Προτρέπει τὰ προκείμενα ἀναχωρῆσαι μὲν κακίας καὶ δυσσεβείας, προσελθεῖν δὲ ἀρετῇ καὶ εὐσεβείᾳ. τίς γὰρ νοῦν εχων πιστεύσας τοῖς ουτως εἰρημένοις οὐ φοβηθήσεται, μὴ ὑποπέσῃ τῷ κρίνοντι ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ἐν εὐθύτητι διὰ πράξεις ψεκτὰς καὶ φρόνημα ἀσεβές; ουτω γὰρ κρίνοντος αὐτοῦ ἀναπόδραστον τὸ κρίμα εσται. 56 Ps 9,10 Τούτου δηλωτικὸν τὸ ἐκ προσώπου λεχθὲν τοῦ θεοῦ Καιρῷ δεκτῷ ἐπήκουσά σου, καὶ τὸ ἐν ἑκατοστῷ πρώτῳ ψαλμῷ ουτω εχον· Σὺ ἀναστὰς οἰκτειρήσεις τὴν Σιών, οτι καιρὸς τοῦ οἰκτειρῆσαι αὐτήν, οτι ηκει καιρός. 57 Ps 9,11 Πάσης ἀνθρωπίνης πεποιθήσεως ἀνωτέρω χωρήσαντες (γνῶσιν γὰρ τοῦ ὀνόματός σου εχοντες ἀσφαλῆ καὶ τελείαν) ἐπ' οὐδενὶ ἐκείνων ἐλπίσουσιν, ζητοῦσι δὲ θεὸν οἱ πάντα παρ' αὐτοῦ θέλοντες ὑπαρχθῆναι α ἐξ ἑαυτῶν εχειν οὐχ οιοί τέ εἰσιν, οθεν οὐκ ἐγκαταλείπονται ὑπ' αὐτοῦ. ̔Οσίως καὶ φρονίμως καὶ ταύτης τῆς λέξεως ἀκοῦσαι προσήκει. εἰ γὰρ νομίσοι τις μὴ ἐγκαταλείπεσθαι ὑπὸ θεοῦ τὸν ἐν τοῖς βιωτικοῖς εὐοδούμενον, σφάλλεται. πολλοὶ γὰρ ἀσεβεῖς διάγουσιν ουτως. ἐπεὶ ωρα λέγειν τὸν Αβελ ἐγκαταλελεῖφθαι (ἀνῃρέθη γάρ), ἀλλὰ καὶ τοὺς προφητὰς καὶ ἀποστόλους· ἐθλίβησαν γὰρ διηνεκῶς, καὶ τέλος ἀνῃρέθησαν ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων οἱ πλεῖστοι αὐτῶν. ουτω διαστολῆς γεγενημένης φαμὲν μὴ ἐγκαταλελεῖφθαι τὸν μέχρις ἐσχάτης ἀναπνοῆς περιεχόμενον ὑπὸ θεοῦ, καν μυριάκις ὑπ' ἐχθρῶν πάθῃ. τοῦτο γὰρ ἀληθῶς τὸ μὴ ἐγκαταλειφθῆναι ὑπὸ κυρίου ἐστίν. Παρίσταται ὁ τρόπος ὡς δεῖ ζητεῖν τὸν θεὸν ἐκ τῶν ἐν τῇ Σοφίᾳ ουτως ἐχόντων· Φρονήσατε περὶ τοῦ κυρίου ἐν ἀγαθότητι, καὶ ἐν ἁπλότητι καρδίας ζητήσατε αὐτόν, οτι εὑρίσκεται τοῖς μὴ πειράζουσιν αὐτόν, ἐμφανίζεται δὲ τοῖς μὴ ἀπιστοῦσιν αὐτῷ. 58 Ps 9,12-13 Υμνον εἰπεῖν προστάττονται οἱ πνεύματι καὶ νοῒ τὸ ψάλλειν ἐσχηκότες, ψάλλουσιν δὲ ουτοι εὐσεβεῖ νοήσει καὶ ἐπινοίᾳ τοῦ πνεύματος· προστάττονται γὰρ ᾳδειν καὶ ψάλλειν τῇ καρδίᾳ. οἱ ουτω ψάλλοντες τῷ κατοικοῦντι ἐν τῇ Σιὼν κυρίῳ καθ' ὑφήγησιν τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος καὶ ἑτέραν πρόσταξιν δέχονται πρὸς αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ ἀναγγεῖλαι ἐν τοῖς εθνεσιν τὰ ἐπιτηδεύματα αὐτοῦ. ταῦτα δέ ἐστιν, οσα θαυμασίως ἐποίησεν ἐπιδημήσας νοητά τε καὶ αἰσθητά. ῥηθείη δ' αν ἡ δευτέρα πρόσταξις μάλιστα τοῖς ἀποστόλοις πεμφθεῖσιν μαθητεῦσαι πάντα τὰ εθνη. Καὶ οτι ἐκζητῶν τὰ αιματα αὐτῶν ἐμνήσθη τῶν ἀναιρεθέντων ὑπὸ τῶν πεπυρωμένων βελῶν τοῦ πονηροῦ. τούτοις, φησίν, ἐπιφέρεται τὸ Οὐκ ἐπελάθετο τῆς κραυγῆς τῶν πενήτων, περὶ ου ἐπαπορήσει τις λέγων· πῶς εκραζον πρὸς θεὸν οἱ ἀπὸ ἐθνῶν πένητες οντες, καίτοι ἀναιρεθέντες ὑπὸ τῆς κατεχούσης πολυθέου ἀπάτης καὶ τῶν ἐνεργούντων αὐτὴν ἀοράτων ἐχθρῶν; πρὸς ο λεκτέον πραγματικῶς αὐτοὺς τὴν κραυγὴν ἀναφέρειν, ὡς τοῦ Αβελ τὸ αιμα βοᾷ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν καὶ ὁ μισθὸς ὁ ἀποστερηθεὶς τῶν ἐργατῶν· ̓Ιδοὺ γάρ φησιν ὁ μισθὸς τῶν ἀμησάντων τὰς χώρας ὑμῶν κράζει, ὁ ἀποστερηθεὶς ἀφ' ὑμῶν· κραυγὴ γὰρ ἡ τοῦ ἀποστερηθέντος μισθοῦ τῷ μὴ ειναι παρὰ